In the United States, billions upon billions of dollars go to some of the largest companies in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, loans, grants and other financial bailout packages. Those who are critical of the waves of cash flowing to corporate America call this “corporate welfare.”

The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting was part of a two-hour event focused on the Latino migration to central Illinois on Sept. 29, 2015. The event, “The Long Journey Home: The Story of Latino Migration into Central Illinois,” was the second installment of an Illinois Humanities’ series. CU-CitizenAccess.org, Illinois Public Media and the University of Illinois College of Media also helped host the event, which took place at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana, Ill.

The Environmental Protection Agency released its ethanol mandates in late May. Those mandates cut billions of gallons from what original 2014 through 2016 mandates promised and contributed to a surge of public comments from a wide variety of stakeholders. Read five of those comments here.

As news of a possible Monsanto-Syngenta merger keeps rolling out, multiple media outlets are reporting that two noteworthy figures have gotten involved with the process. Billionaire investor John Paulson of Paulson & Co. has took on a large number of shares in the Swiss chemical company Syngenta, according to reports from Bloomberg Business. The moves could signal support of a takeover.

A bill that would prohibit state-level legislation on GMO labeling took a step forward in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. Known as the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, the bill seeks to create overarching federal legislation that only makes labeling optional. The bill was originally introduced in March by republican Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas.

Monsanto is still gunning to acquire Syngenta even though the Swiss chemical company rejected the most recent $45 billion takeover offer. St. Louis-based Monsanto has been considering proposals to buy Syngenta since 2011. Officials from Syngenta feel the proposals undervalue their company’s worth.

Highlights from the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting's package on GMOs and climate change. In the last 20 years, U.S. farmers have widely turned to genetically engineered seeds to help counter more prevalent pests and other climate change consequences. U.S. Department of Agriculture data on genetically engineered crops shows which companies have fueled that trend.